Category Archives: Figure

Last year, Christopher Forbes and Stephen Doherty invited a group of 10 artists to paint at the Forbes family estate in New Jersey. We had inspirational landscapes, interiors and models to work from. Those artists have been invited to share work done that week, or later work inspired by the trip. The artists attending included Camie Davis, John Patrick Campbell, Rob Clarke, Bryan Le Boeuf, George Towne, Wendy Walworth, Timothy Jahn, Ed Terpening, Patricia Watwood and John Dowd. Tonight was really special, my first group show in New York, and an opportunity to reconnect with this exceptional group!

Here’s another recent figure study. Again, I’m focusing on simply stating plains in the figure and pushing color (especially temperature) and texture. This isn’t nearly the texture I want, but I’m building this up. I need to study with Ken Auster again! If you like this, click the Facebook Like button below to share with your friends. Thanks!

I’ve back to focus on the figure, a bit. I’m trying to state things simply, but push color and texture a bit. If you like it, share with your Facebook friends by clicking the Facebook Like button below the painting. Cheers!

Last year I posted a video collage of some some figure work, but thought it would be nice to post full images. You can view these at a higher resolution. I’m working more so lately on the figure, and may have some new work to post soon. I’m incredibly inspired by the latest work by Dan MacCaw. This blog post, which describes how he takes a landscape and sort of “deconstructs” it through a series of paintings into something else, is intriguing, and something I’m going to attempt myself this weekend. I’ve struggled with loosening up my work, and trying to drive more and more towards abstraction. His recent studies are a fascinating example of how to achieve that.

This painting of Timberfield model Chase sat in my studio for a while, unfinished (I thought). I like to work “ala prima”, wet into wet. I wasn’t able to finish this one that way, so it sat a few weeks. But it grew on me as is, so here it is.

This painting is an exploration. Art is a viable pursuit for me as long as I have the opportunity to push myself through experimentation and growth. Having just finished Door County Plein Air, I was reminded that I need to avoid creating works that veer on “trite”. Yes, I like to capture beauty, but I want to create works that are more intellectually stimulating. That’s how music evolved from Bach to Portishead :-).

What you don’t see, is that Chase is jumping out of a tree, so his body is contorted in an unusual way, you don’t see the tree, but you probably get some sense of movement. This is similar to Robert Longo’s“Men in the city” series, who I recall used to photograph his models while throwing rubber balls or rocks at them. Their contorted bodies made for an interesting subject, and without the balls for needed context, the viewer wonders what instigated the movement. Mystery in art…it’s a good thing.

Busy couple days, but finally ready for the show tomorrow night! It rained all day today, but I was able to finish a painting of a Venus-like statue at Edgewood Orchard Galleries. Last night, finished two paintings for the “Evening with the Artists” sunset reception. I did both a late afternoon/pre-sunset work and a really fun nocturne, both of which I hope to post tomorrow. My second Cavepoint painting below was painted yesterday, which was really productive!

Here’s one of the paintings from the trip. The artists are to be featured in a show at The Forbes Galleries in Manhattan next year. This will be my first show in the “Big Apple”! I’m thrilled (and a bit nervous…this is an incredibly talented group!).

Timberfield, Oil on Linen, 10x12

UPDATE (7/26/2010): Kip was kindly sent some photos of the trip. Here are a couple:

Painting copies of artwork you admire is a great way to learn. Joaquín Sorolla is one of my favorite painters, so I can open “Joaquín Sorolla” (Museo Nacional Del Prado) to any page and find a work of inspiration to copy. Like this one. Funny thing is, I opened the book, and found later this is a detail of a larger painting! I had a feeling it was an odd composition (having the two people on the edge of the canvas), so it was nice to see the full composition on the next page.

Even so, copying “Sewing the Sail” (1904) was a great lesson in composition and color. I learned how Sorolla used the folds in the sail to lead directly to the figures, and even the shadows in the sand. Look how the main shadow folds in the sail lead directly to the center of interest (foreground person). I was also surprised someone how intense many of these colors were, but how adding a complement (violet to the orange) would bring down the intensity just enough (although, comparing mine to his now, I see I should have used even more violet).

This was also a great study in brushwork. The original is much larger, but I was able to adapt my brushwork to this scale (10×8) to lay down some juicy brushstrokes, particularly on the sunlit side of the sails.